1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of power electronics. It relates in particular to an MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT) having an anode and a cathode, comprising
a sequence of variously doped layers containing a p-type emitter layer, an n-type base layer, a p-type base layer and an n-type emitter layer between the anode and the cathode; and PA1 a plurality of cathode short-circuits on the cathode side which can each be controlled via a MOSFET structure having a source region, a channel region, a drain region and an insulated gate electrode and which short-circuit the p-type base layer to a cathode contact in the switched-on state; PA1 the p-type base layer being connected to the drain region via a drain contact and the source region being a part of the n-type emitter layer which is in communication with the cathode contact.
Such a thyristor is known, for example, from the paper by M. Stoisiek et al., IEEE Int. Electron Dev. Meet. Techn. Dig., pages 158-161 (1985).